Glad Tidings of the Holidays

I am spending part of my Christmas Holiday in Little Rock and I was looking at some of the festivities I could get involved in when I found great events held at the Down Town River Market.  It is a great development in Downtown LR that has a park, amphitheater, farmers market, and much more.  I happened across it by searching for places to ice skate and it hit me how a passive place like a park with the flexibility to be used for so many different things is so important in all cultures.  Whether it is an open plaza made only of concrete or brick, or a forest with a trail system and a few pavilions, it has so many Uses to so many different people. The river walk in Columbus has a concrete pad under an old bridge that I see being used for yoga, picnics, small acoustic jam sessions, and larger musical performances as well.  It's the simplest spaces that I think are the most successful.  So as part of my new found interest in social spaces and building of community thanks to  this seminar I will explore the LR River market and soak up the feeling of community a designed space can provide!

http://www.rivermarket.info/

Living with the Land

As I go into my last blog posts of this class I want to take some time to share a place that was such an important part of my life and what steered me into going back to school.  Those of you who know me can't help but know that I worked at The Land greenhouses at Epcot.  A tradition at the end of the internship is to tie your ugly white tennis shoes together and throw them up into a tree outside of the break room.  Well one of our leaders hated the tradition and all but told us not to continue the tradition. Well I am not one for taking subtle hints and was gonna add my shoes to the tree come hell or high water.  I decided to write a message on the bottom of my shoes and It simply told him not to worry when they were ripe, they would fall.  And they did...during a hurricane.  Most of the shoes blew away, but wouldn't you know, my pair and the message attached didn't blow away like many of the shoes and he got my message and has decided to allow the tradition to continue.  The message I wrote was inspired by the phrase I titled my blog off of, which I described in my very first post.

But I wanted to provide a little information to you about The Land and how great the experience of working there was and in the even that anyone stumbles upon this blog post they can know how wonderful the Land was as well.

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/parks/epcot/attractions/living-with-the-land/

In front of you the whole time

The world around us is full of amazing things that we truly never pay attention to, I learned that on a cool weather run the other day when a case of nature winning over man had escaped me the umpteen times i had run past the same spot.  Well it happened to me again today when I caught Mengli looking at a book of Hunderwasser Architecture and I wondered how I have gone through life and not explored this bazaar and fantastic style of architecture! So in the event that any of you out there are under appreciating Hunderwasser, here is just a little taste for you!
This guy is a real life Dr. Seuss!

And here is a website that has some other crazy cool buildings:
http://www.roxanneardary.com/blog/unusual-architecture-from-around-the-world/

Study Time

With finals approaching, I have been researching ways to help my students through finals week and trying desperately to help them pull up any grades they can in these last few days of class.  With this said I have found information about rest and meditation for stress free test taking to help improve scores.  This got me thinking of the power of de-stressing and having good, designated spaces to do so. So I did a quick look into designing contemplative spaces and turns out, there is a decent amount of info out there to support calming design.

http://chicago.shambhala.org/program_details.php?id=53134&cid=170

 
http://www.home-designing.com/2011/01/spaces-that-inspire-solitude-contemplation-and-creative-work

A long time ago I learned from an interior design teacher that most studio environments are gray because gray promotes creativity, something to think about when creating your own creative or study space.
http://www.moosepeterson.com/techtips/color.html

The things you find when looking for something else

I was searching for how to make a homemade cistern and came across an inventive bike rack in Portland that has a roof which catches rainwater. It was so interesting and inventive to me I had to share!

http://djcoregon.com/news/2012/02/16/portland-gets-creative-with-stormwater-project-adds-bikes-and-art/

Spontaneous Art

I was playing on land 8 lounges website and they had a picture of a street in Agueda, Portugal that was covered in Umbrellas and it is apparently something the city always does in the summer time.  They place Umbrellas all around and it has become a bit of an artistic expression as well as a part of their landscape.

How stinking cool is that!?

It got me thinking about spontaneous art and how things can just happen and become pretty cool and how some artist dedicate their life to creating installations that can mean nothing at all or have deeper meaning, but either way, they tend to strongly effect people.  I have always liked the practical joke Martha Schwartz played on her husband with her bagel garden.

And I got to meet Patrick Dougherty and help with one of his twiggy installations at LaBash at Purdue.

Even at a crazy event like burning man where it will eventually be destroyed (much like all of Patrick's works) they can create some amazing pieces.

Just something to think about I guess that no matter the medium, some thing intriguing can capture a persons imagination and lead to even more works of random art that can simply "be" and make a huge difference in the way we see the world we live in.

Building Castles

On many beaches throughout the world there are competitions for artists to sculpt the most well thought out and structurally sound sculptures out of sand.  The only materials are sand and water and the perfect balance of the 2.  In competitions I have seen the final product is then blown to pieces after being judged.  It is something that has taken the simple sand castle to an artistic extreme.  But something I have started to learn something about, called rammed earth is something that is so similar and much more permanent.  Rammed Earth Homes are not only healthy for dwellers and provide an beautiful alternative form of the most basic idea of shelter, but they are a green form of building.

Sand Castles 

 http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/improvement/outdoor-projects/better-than-the-sand-castle-beach-art-gallery#slide-3

How Rammed Earth Homes work?
http://home.howstuffworks.com/rammed-earth-home

Rammed Earth Homes

Rammed Earth home in Austin Texas
http://gliving.com/modern-rammed-earth-style-green-house-in-austin-texas/
http://earthshelters.com/
http://www.rammedearthhomes.com/

Long Runs

I pushed myself to do a 17.1 training run this weekend in Columbus, and believe me, i ran every inch of sidewalk in the "safe" part of Downtown in order to do so and some of it twice.  I know Robert is doing a whole thesis based on this topic, but I wanted to know about some of the best places for training.  So my first stop was of course google and a quick search sent me to an article in Runner's World about the top 25 cities to run in.  I am at the point of driving to Starkville to have a change of scenery, but my friend in Chicago runs a different route every long run she goes on and in the process gets to know her city a little bit better each time,
http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-239-283-318-8155-0,00.html

I loved running around property at Disney because I could run the nice manicured sidewalks throughout the different connected resorts.  I wish the whole world was more aware of foot traffic for good, safe, connected routes for runners.

There is a great app called RunKeeper that people save their routes and the distance of the route is provided, so in an unfamiliar area you can learn the route and know how far it takes you.  Modern technology just can't be beat, and it for sure beats running in circles on a track or on a treadmill to know for sure how far your legs think they are going.
http://runkeeper.com/

And just in case this topic has you inspired to go running here is where I started
http://www.c25k.com/
When I first began I had only ever worked myself up to 2 straight miles, and that had honestly only happened once, now I can run 10 miles without stopping and I am training for a full marathon.  5K's are a phenominal accomplishment and very attainable goal.  Good luck if you want to try this and keep in mind how it is a great way to connect you to nature, to cities, and honestly to yourself.

The Warm Breezes that Blow

There is a lot of criticism to be found about wind energy.  I am all for not killing birds by changing the atmospheric pressure, or having people go crazy from a dull constant hum, but I am also for cleaner forms of energy and this Design III project has me thinking of the simple forms of energy production and how it really cant be that hard.

We already use photo-voltaic panels in our own department, that combined with geothermal heating and cooling makes our 3 buildings the most energy efficient buildings on campus.  What if we harnessed a little wind?  The Aiken village site we are looking at is bordered on the north by HWY 182 and on the East by HWY 12.  there are a steady stream of cars helping to produce wind all day and the wind isn't selective to the daytime alone, solar energy has to be stored, but wind energy is a little more around the clock. If all 3 of the above systems were incorporated into the building site, it could in theory have a negative footprint, it could be receiving more energy than it is using and all of it is renewable!

I just wanted to provide a few links to back up my theory of how easy this all could be.

just a little side note, play around Appalachian State's websites, they do some crazy cool sustainable practice stuff!http://sustain.appstate.edu/

http://www.carbontrust.com/resources/reports/technology/small-scale-wind-energy
http://www.windustry.org/home-and-farm-scale-wind
http://www.windspireenergy.com/

http://sustain.appstate.edu/strides/attributes/id/972
http://www.renewablegreenenergypower.com/solar-energy-facts-concentrated-solar-power-csp-vs-photovoltaic-pv-panels/
http://www.tva.com/environment/technology/solar_photovoltaic.htm our LA building is on the TVA site

http://www.mississippipower.com/residential/geoexchange.asp
http://www.conserve-energy-future.com/GeothermalEnergyFacts.php

The Wino's Dilemma

Many years ago I was far to skinny to be reading a book called Skinny Bitch (hope I'm allowed to say that), written by 2 former models about how they have stayed skinny without starving themselves. Sounds like great advice for someone trying to keep off the freshman 15 right!? Well the first couple of chapters were down right funny and very truthful, my personal favorite line going something like, "Skinny Bitches don't smoke, because smoking kills your taste buds so you eat things that taste like shit, when you eating things that taste like shit you get fat." not a direct quote but close enough.  But as I got farther into I realized I was being told the only way to be skinny was to eat only organic and to be a vegan! It was a watered down version of Food Inc. minus the research to back it up!

I was then given one of the least romantic valentine presents in the history of valentines day as a commercial hollidy...Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma.  (a used copy at that) It took me a full year to get over myself and read it.  I mean it was quite thought full in retrospect because it was some thing I wanted to read, but I'd sya that's more of a happy Thursday present and less of a romantic gesture.

 It was full of insight about where we get our food, why we eat what we eat, and how to make informed decisions about where our next meal comes from.

Ok Michael, sorry to say I will still choose the convenience of buying things at Kroger, but I will be smarter about brands and about choosing local hormone free chickens and such.

Skinny Bitches... I refuse to live by the label of "Organic" because if I learned one thing in undergrad it is that "organic" is a tricky tricky word.

So how does the title of my blog fit into this? Well the two above source are only a fraction of the things I think about when choosing what I do, buy, and eat.  I have seen the ugly side of me and the things stress and lack of time to make the right decisions can do to my body so i am now more aware of what goes into it that when i was a broke undergrad taking every opportunity to get a free slice of pizza.  Now I am a broke grad student raising my own egg laying chickens and eating fresher more filling and wholesome foods.  I am also a runner and watching my carb and calorie intake and I am human and want to wind down with a drink once in a while.  i stay away from the carbonation and carbs of beer and I'm not feeling the hard liquor thing without the added cons of mixers. So I turn to wine.  110 calories a glass and I am in a happier place.  But one thing I remember from skinny bitch was to stick to an organic red wine, good luck finding that at Corkey's!
Also with the things I have been learning in grad school I want to think about the environment and how the farming practices of a winery effect the world around them so I can enjoy a nice glass of vino at night.

Turns out there is a sustainable wine growers alliance in California!

They follow the 3 E's shown above and have been doing so since 2004.  They list their sustainability reports on their website and provide a list of wineries that are associated with their standards of sustainable practice so i can in turn make a smarter decision about the wine I choose to enjoy.And I am sorry to report my "go to" wine is not on the list and I hereby proclaim that I will no longer be buying it.  It is time to step out of my comfort zone, do a little research, and try something new while trying to make a little bit of difference in my world.
http://www.sustainablewinegrowing.org/

Eco-Creative=Wonderful!

Regrettably I have found out about something I could have 100% have planned to go to but can't now because I have work tonight.  That seemingly amazing thing called Moss Rock Festival is today in Hoover, Alabama and looks fantastic.  I have a friend who will be attending on my behalf and letting me know what  she thinks of it but from what I'm finding online it looks great.  It is in a neighborhood in Hoover called the Preserve, very Desperate Housewives or Stepford Wives looking but a pretty cool concept for a neighborhood.  It has a village green, hiking trails, rock climbing, and a real feeling of family for those who live there.  The largest problem I see with it is the lack of density, but it has the theory behind it making it a very pleasant place.
http://www.hooverpreserve.com/Index.aspx

The Moss Rock Festival that is held there is a gathering of artists in every respect of the word with many different types of creations that are meant to improve the earth.  Jewelry, clothes, furniture paintings,architects, activists, and so many more who are gathering to help educate the masses on their craft. It just seems like something I for sure want to plan to attend next fall!
http://mossrockfestival.com/category/blog/

Living Machine

http://www.livingmachines.com/?gclid=CKbtqp_FsLMCFUeRPAodJlAAlg
I found a website for a company who builds living machines and they have examples of some schools where they have installed living machines and waste water management wetlands as a part of the living Machine System.  They even Show examples of how the system itself is an attractive feature in the lobby of buildings where they are actually cleaning the water as people walk past every day thinking they are pleasant to look at.  So cool how something that ecologically makes such a difference is an attractive feature as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=AKBuRv-tcMw

Urban Development

I have a connecting in Australia at the moment and I learned about an interesting feature that got me searching the web for more information.  It is a "beach" in the center of a city.  The city is Brisbane in Queensland Australia and the beach is along the bank of the Brisbane River and is an attempt to reclaim land and create a natural corridor along the river.  The ares seems quite interesting  when I explored it on google earth where I also found a great pedestrian bridge called the Kurilpa Bridge.  It is far from the urban prairie lands of Chicago but a very interesting park space for the people who live in Brisbane.

http://www.visitsouthbank.com.au/











http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurilpa_Bridge

http://brisbanedevelopment.com/brisbanes-largest-urban-renewal-project-since-southbank/